Method of aerating liquescent material and machine for the purpose



M. HOPKINS AND C. BRUNKHURST..

METHOD OF AERATING HQUESCENT MATERIAL AND MACHINE FOR THE PURPOSE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-30. I918.

Patented July 8, 1919.

U I E STATES PATENT orrrou.

MARK HOPKINS AND CHARLES BRUNKHURST, OF MIDDLETOWN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNORS TO BORDENS CONDENSED MILK'GOMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.,

A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

METHOD OF AERATING LIQUESCENT MATERIAL MACHINE FOR THE PURPOSE.

To all whom it may concern: j 4

Be it known that we, MARK HOPKINS and CHARLES BBuNKHURs'r, both citizens of the United States, and residents of Middletown, in the county of Orange and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Aerating Liquescent Materials and in Ma chines for the Purpose, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to a method and apparatus for incorporating air or other gas, and minutely subdividing the resulting occlusions thereof, in se1ni-liquid more or less viscid material, such for example as concentrated milk, one type of such apparatus being, for example, that shown in U. S. Letters Patent No. 1,233,446 dated July17, 1917, and the objects ofourinvention comprise provision of means whereby the air is more effectively and economically incorporated and amore minute subdivision of the occlusions efiected, more quickly,'with less expenditure of energy, and with less risk of undesirably affecting the liquescent materliils, such particularly as concentrated m1 lVe attain these objects and work our method by aid of the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 isa vertical longitudinal central section of our apparatus.

Fig. 2 is, on enlarged scale, a transverse section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1, and indicating the directions of movement of the liquescent substance during operation. v

A is a suitably supported tank, preferably longitudinally extended, 6. of oblong reetangular horizontal'cross section, as shown, and having an inwardly conca-vely curved bottom A. Thereinto vents; a pipe A for charging the tank and therefrom leads a pipe A affording a discharge orifice for the product and controlled, as usual, by valves, etc., not shown. B is a rotary shaft concentric with and relatively proximate to said bottom; B is liquid-tightly journaled in the tank and rotatable, as usual, by aid of pulley P from a source of'power not shown. B carries a plurality of therefrom equidistantly radially projecting alike members, or arms, C, a plurality of which spacedapart from, and in alinement with, each other are reduplicated along the shaft.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 8, 1919.

Application filed August 30, 1918. Serial No. 252,031. 7

Each such plurality carries a group of spaced-apart alike rods D, extended in parallelism with the shaft. -The rods are, preferably, as shown in the drawings, equally spaced apart, parallel with the shaft, cylindrical, and relative-attenuated, there being rods in each group which are equidistant from the axis of the shaft. B is another .rotary shaft similarly journaled in the tank, disposed above, in parallelism with shaft B and carrying similar radially pr0-.

jecting members, or arms, C carrying groups of similarlyextended similar rods D.

The rods are, as shown by the drawings, relatively attenuated and'preferably cylindrical, 2'. 6., of circular crosssection, i. e., having curved exterior surfaces. This size and shape of the rods is important as it enables them, as stated in said patent, to continuously slice or cut smoothly and evenly in a multitude of planes the viscid concentrate through which the airv is being upwardly and relatively gently forced and thus produce the desired impregnationwith the carried, as aforesaid, is such that the arms,

and rods of the one move rotatively in interspaces between the arms and rods of the other, in the present instance, as shown in the drawings, the shafts being so spaced apart as to permit clearance thereofby the rods and paths of the rods carried by the lower shaft to be, below the upper shaft, in-

tersected by paths of the rods thereby carried.

It will also be noted that, as shown in Fig. 2, the shaft B is so superdisposed relatively to the shaft B that the rods carried by the former clear the surface of .the material when at normal level.

B and inter- Method: The liquescent material to be treated is charged into the tank, up to say the level of the dotted line L located as shown above the shaft B and below the path of the red C. Power is then applied and 6 the shafts rotated until the desired extent of aeration and subdivision of occluded air is attained, after which the charge, thereby converted into an aerated, plastic, coherent, adhesive mass such as described in the above 10 referred to patent, is discharged and ready for other treatment such as drying, etc. It will be noted that our method and apparatus dispense with the formerly relied on means for injecting or forcing compressed air, or-

gas, into the material treated. This is because our method and apparatus are such as to produce by aid of centrifugal action, in, or under, a constantly circularly advancing superelevated part or belt of the mass of material treated, an air space S cylindrical, as shown, and concentric with and extending longitudinally around the shaft B. From each relatively open end of this space there is constantly sucked, or indrawn, a current of air which passes diffusedly, or in constantly being subdivided bubbles, by levitation, upwardly into said longitudinally extended superdisposed or supernatant moving belt of the concentrate thus separated from 0 the remainder thereof, and is entrained thereby and thus carried back into the tank, to be there further subdivided by the rods and so on indefinitely, as indicated approximately by the arrow-headed lines X illustrating the directions of movement of the charge, shown in Fig. 2. A11 important feature is that, contemporaneously with the progressive aeration of the heavier portions of'the charge in the lower portions of the 40 tank, there is constantly being temporarily separated therefrom and further progressively aerated more aerated, and consequently supernatant, portions of the concentrate. The air occlusions are thus by aid of our apparatus more minutely subdivided and homogeneously distributed, and in less time and with less expenditure of energy, or undesirable effects on the material such as concentrated milk treated, than by any other method for similar purposes with which we are acquainted.

We are aware that in the Patent No. 185754 to Joseph,.for improvement in rotary churns, is disclosed a pair of relatively superimposed interlocking dasher wheels, and in the Patent No. 875384 to Quack, for kneading and mixing machine, a pair of superimposed interlocking agitators, or scrapers; nor do we claim. as any part of our present invention any of the constructions so disclosed, these being, so shaped, relatively positioned, or environed, as to be incompetent to produce our above described air space and therefore unavailable for the practice of our method of aeration.v

Having now described our invention what we claim as new and desire to secure byLetters Patent is the following, viz:

1. In an apparatus for aerating semiliquid material, a tank, and within said tank a rotatory shaft carrying a plurality of therefrom transversely projecting arms each carrying a group of therefrom transversely extending relatively attenuated rods, in combination with another similar shaft similarly carrying similar arms and rods, the one shaft being superdisposed relatively to the other shaft, and the said shafts being so spaced apart as to permit clearance thereof by said rods and the paths of rods carried by the one shaft to be intersected by paths of rods carried by the other shaft, and means to synchronously rotate said shafts in opposite directions.

2. In an apparatus for aerating semiliquid material, a tank, and within said tank a horizontal rotatory shaft carrying a plurality of therefrom radially projecting arms each carrying a group of therefrom horizontally extending relatively attenuated rods, in combination with another therewith parallel similar shaft similarly carrying similar arms and rods, the one shaft being superdisposed relatively to the other shaft, and the said shafts being so spaced apart as to permit clearance thereof by said rods and the paths of rods carried by the one shaft to be intersected by paths of rods carried by the other shaft, and means to synchronously rotate said shafts in opposite directions.

3. In an apparatus for aerating semiliquid material, a tank, and within said tank a rotatory shaft carrying a plurality of therefrom equidistantly, radially, projecting alike arms each carrying a group of equally spaced-apart, relatively attenuated, rods therefrom extending in parallelism with the shaft, in combination with another similar shaft similarly carrying similar arms and rods, the one shaft being superdisposed rela- 110, tively to the other shaft, and the said shafts being so spaced apart as to permit clearance thereof by said rods and the paths of rods carried by the one shaft to be intersected by paths of rods carried'by the other shaft, and means to synchronously rotate said shafts in opposite directions.

4. In an apparatus for aerating semiliquid material, a tank, and within said tank a rotatory shaft carrying a plural ity of therefrom equidistantly, radially, projecting alike arms each carrying a group of equally spaced apart relatively attenuated, alike, cylindrical rods therefrom extending in parallelism with, and there being rods in 125.

each group equidistant from, the shaft, in combination with another similar shaft similarly carrying similar armsand rods, the one shaft being superdisposed relatively ,to the other shaft, and the said shafts being versely projecting arms each carrying a plu-.

by the one shaft to be intersected by paths of rods carried by the other shaft, and means to synchronously rotate said shafts in opposite directions.

5. In an apparatus for aerating semiliquid material, a tank, having an inwardly concavely curved bottom, a shaft rotatable in said tank having its axis concentric with said bottom and carrying therefrom transrality of therefrom transversely extending rods, in combination with another similar shaft similarly carrying similar arms and rods, said last mentioned shaft being superdisposed relatively to the first mentioned shaft, the said shafts being so spaced-apart as to permit clearance of their axes by said rods and paths of the rods carried by the lower shaft to be, below the upper shaft, intersected by paths of the rods thereby carried, and means to rotate said shafts in opposite directions.

6. In an apparatus for aerating semiliquid material, a tank, having an inwardly concavely curved bottom, a shaft rotatable in said tank having its axis concentric with said bottom and carrying therefrom transversely projecting arms each carrying a plurality of therefrom transversely extending rods of circular cross-section, in combination with another similar shaft similarly carrying similar arms and rods, said last 7 mentioned shaft being superdisposed relatively to the first mentioned shaft, the said shafts being so spaced-apart as to permit clearance of their axes by said rods, and paths of the rods carried by the lower shaft to be, below the upper shaft, intersected by paths of the rods thereby carried, and means to rotate said shafts in opposite directions.

7. In an apparatus for aerating semiliquid material, a tank, having an inwardly concavely curved bottom, a shaft rotatable in said tank having its axis concentric with said bottom and carrying therefrom transversely projecting arms each carrying a plurality of therefrom transversely extending relatively attenuated rods of circular cross-section, in combination with another similar shaft similarly carrying similar arms and rods, said last mentioned shaft being superdisposed relatively to the first mentioned shaft, the said shafts being so spacedapart as to permit clearance of their axes by said rods and paths of the rods carried by the lower shaft to be, below the upper shaft, intersected by paths of the rods thereby carried, and means to rotate said shafts in opposite directions.

8. The method of treating semi-liquid material to aerat it, which comprises charging it into a tank of oblong horizontal cross section and imparting to superelevated parts of the charge constantly advancing circularly by directed movementsuch as to shape them temporarily into a superdisposed, or supernatant, circularly moving belt, and thus produce and maintain, in said parts of the charge, by aid of centrifugal action, a longitudinally-extending cylindrical air space intervening between said belt and the remainder of the charge the central longitudinal axis of which air space is in parallelism with the major; axis; of the tank.

9. The method of treating semi-liquid material to aerate it, which comprises charging it into a tank of oblong horizontal cross section, imparting to superelevated parts of the charge constantly advancing circularly directed movement such as to shape them temporarily into a superdisposed, or supernatant, circularly moving belt, and thus produce and maintain in said parts of the charge, by aid of centrifugal action, a longitudinallyextending cylindrical air space intervening between said belt and the remainder of the charge the longitudinal axis of which air space is in parallelism with the major axis of the tank, and meanwhile imparting to parts of the charge in the lower portions of the tank constantly advancin movement in directions contrary to said rst mentioned movement.

10. The method of treating semi-liquid material to aerate it, which comprises the step of producing and maintaining in superelevated parts thereof a thereunder longitudinally extending air space from the ends of which air is indrawn and passes by levitation upwardly into superdisposed parts of th material.

11. The method of treating semi-liquid material to aerate it, which comprises the step of, by aid of centrifugal action, producing and maintaining in superelevated parts thereof a thereunder longitudinally extending air space from the ends of which air is indrawn and passes by levitation upwardly into superdisposed parts of the material.

12. The method of treating semi-liquid material to aerate it, which comprises the step of producing and maintaining in superelevated parts thereof a thereunder longitudinally extending air space from the ends of which air is indrawn and passes by levitation upwardly into superdisposed parts of the material, and meanwhile imparting to said parts constantly circularly advancing movement.

13. The method of treating semi-liquid material to aerate it, which comprises the step of producing and maintaining in superelevated parts thereof a thereunder longitudinally extending air space from the ends of which air is indrawn and passes by levitation upwardly into superdisposed parts of the material, and meanwhile imparting to said parts constantly circularly advancing movement, and subdividing the air thus incorporated in the material.

14. The method of treating milk to convert it into an aerated, plastic, coherent, adhesive mass Which comprises first concentrating it, and then producingand maintaining in superelevated parts of the resulting concentrate a thereunder longitudinally extending air space from the ends of which. 10 air is iIlClltWIl'ftIlCl passes by levitation upwardly into superdisposed parts of the concentric.

MARK HOPKINS. CHARLES BRUNKHURST. Witnesses:

LEWIS E. MOORE, O. W. MORRISQ Copiesof this patent may be obtained for five .cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

